NO NASCAR PAGE MONDAY: GateHouse News Service will be closed Monday, July 5, for the holiday. The weekly NASCAR page will be posted Tuesday, July 6.

COUNTRY LIVING: Our new four-page campaign is aimed at rural readers

READER CALLOUT: Have readers send in summer drink recipes

News

GIRAFFE DIES AS PEOPLE WATCH: Zoo giraffe dies in front of crowd - One of the two young male giraffes in the Peoria (Ill.) Zoo’s Africa exhibit died in its outdoor enclosure in a strange accident Tuesday afternoon in front of a large crowd of summer visitors, including lots of children. By Scott Hilyard.

NATIONAL PROBLEM: Bed bugs catch Washington's eye -- How big of a problem have bed bugs become in the U.S.? They’ve caught the attention of the federal government. By Danny Henley of the Hannibal Courier-Post.
*To localize: Speak to environmental health specialists in your state health department. How do they classify bed bugs? As a nuisance, or as something more serious? Add information about how reports of bed bugs are dealt with in your state: Who is responsible for investigating complaints? What happens if bed bugs are discovered?*

FOURTH OF JULY CONTENT: Including our reader photos callout and ready-made ROP page

VEGGIES: A sweet take on veggies - Douglas Drenckpohl is out to change the way people think about vegetables. First he worked on vegetable baby foods. Then it was pureed vegetable soups, then vegetable ice cream. Now he has tested a series of recipes for vegetable cakes. By Clare Howard.

HOME HELP: Just married? How to decorate as a couple -- Weekly home and garden rail, with items on how to reconcile decorating differences, tips for working with pressure-treated wood, devices for childproofing your home, and more.

OPEN HOME: Open floor plan great for entertaining -- How can a home be cozy for a family of three but big enough to entertain 30 at the holidays? With an open floor plan that allows people to see what’s going on from multiple spaces. By Jennie Pollock of the Rockford Register Star.

GREEN THUMBS UP: Summertime maintenance of lawns and gardens -- With clippers, tarp and cultivator in hand, I ventured forth into my overgrown gardens on a sultry summertime morn. Hazy, hot, humid weather has arrived necessitating that most strenuous gardening activities be performed early in the day or during the evening hours. By Suzanne Mahler.

BED BUGS: Don't let 'em bite: Bed bugs a creepy-crawly problem -- They are the souvenir that nobody wants to bring home. Bed bugs are blood-sucking pests that are a growing problem. By Danny Henley of the Hannibal Courier-Post.

FIREWORKS SAFETY: Five things you should know -- Fireworks should be treated with respect. Here are five things to consider to be safe on the upcoming Fourth of July. By Jean Lethlean of the Journal-Standard.

AWAY WII GO: Sports video games help seniors stay active -- Marguerite Pickett doesn’t bowl in weekly leagues anymore. But the 77-year-old still plays the game. She just does it with a Nintendo Wii controller instead. By Brenda Young of the Rockford Register Star.
*To localize: Do senior facilities in your community use the Wii? Speak to directors and residents there.*

DR. MURRAY FEINGOLD: Breaking up takes an emotional toll -- For some reason, it has been assumed that young women are usually more emotionally affected by a relationship breakup than young men. The purpose of a recent study was to determine the emotional effect that these breakups had on 1,000 unmarried men and women between the ages of 18 to 23. The results were somewhat surprising.

DR. JEFF HERSH: Aspirin can be helpful and dangerous -- Aspirin helps treat and/or prevent heart attacks, stroke and other atherosclerotic diseases. It may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. And, of course, aspirin is a pain medication and an antipyretic (used to treat fever). However, aspirin can also cause problems.

DARIN ST. GEORGE: Think before you chow down -- I want to offer you a few options for what ends up on your plate. How you choose to cook can make a big difference.

JOAN ENDYKE: Guys, some of those drinks make your belly fat, not full -- Men accumulate belly fat the same way women do: by routinely taking in more calories than the body needs to power daily activity. Women have an added disadvantage of weight being distributed to the middle, with or without weight gain, because of hormonal changes with menopause.

PHYSICIAN FOCUS: The ABCs of asthma -- The public health burden of asthma is approaching alarming levels. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 24 million people of all ages are afflicted with this chronic respiratory condition. Further, asthma is one of the most common chronic allergic and respiratory conditions impacting children.

KENNETH KNEPPER: A never-ending debate: Is it trash or treasure? -- I’m in the process of my semi-annual top-of-the-desk clean-up project, which entails emptying enough items that I’ll single-handedly become a recycler’s best customer.

LOST IN SUBURBIA: Catching flies - “Oh … hi!” I said to a pseudo-friend of mine when I ran into her in Dunkin' Donuts one morning. I call her a pseudo-friend because we are friendly when we run into each other, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to find her in a crowded room. I actually wouldn’t even go out of my way to find her in an empty room. She’s one of those people who always has incredible things to share about her children and shows absolutely no interest in anyone else’s. By Tracy Beckerman.

PETER CHIANCA: The future according to you (and Pew) - The Pew Research Center released a survey last week featuring predictions about the near future made by “the majority of Americans.” This despite the fact that I’m pretty sure the majority of Americans couldn’t even tell you what’s coming up next in their Netflix queue.

Entertainment

TWILIGHT REVIEW: Movie review: ‘Eclipse’ overshadows other ‘Twilight’ films - The Twihards were out in full force. The cheers for the third entry in the wildly popular teen vampire franchise started as soon as the lights dimmed. More ooohing and aaahing surfaced seconds later for Robert Pattinson’s close up in a meadow canoodling with Kristen Stewart. By Dana Barbuto.

LOVE RANCH REVIEW: Movie review: Madame Mirren’s ‘Love Ranch’ fails to round up passion - After sitting on a shelf for a couple of years, “Love Ranch,” Taylor Hackford’s first film since “Ray,” finally gets a release. But it’s easy to see why distributors had so many second thoughts on whether audiences would want to see it. By Ed Symkus.

BOOK NOTES: Water love brings scientists together - David Fisichella’s enjoyable memoir about his time spent aboard scientific research vessels, as a helpmate to an oceanographer with failing eyesight, reminds us that information comes at a price. In his case, the collection of data about ocean currents involves battling storms, seasickness, pirate attacks, failed equipment, food poisoning and human error. By Rae Francoeur.

RINGO STARR: The former Beatle shines on his national tour, which starts on the East Coast. By Dino F. Ciliberti

Opinions

GRANLUND CARTOON: Larry King ready to hang up the suspenders

GRANLUND CARTOON: Supreme Court ruling on handgun bans

EDITORIAL: Please be smart with animals in the heat - Too often one can take a trip to a local shopping center or grocery store and walk by more than one car with a dog barking inside the vehicle — left alone by its owner while it runs in a store to grab a few items. I think we all can agree it’s never a short visit to any store these days to “grab a few things.” By Neosho Daily News.

EDITORIAL: Sen. Robert Byrd a link to best and worst of Senate traditions - The death Monday of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd not only brought an end to the career of the longest-serving senator in American history - and a consequential one - it severed one of the last links to a political culture both maddening and refreshing. By The Journal Star of Peoria, Ill.

EDITORIAL: Remembering Sen. Robert Byrd - West Virginia and the nation lost a true friend and dedicated, passionate public servant in Monday's passing of Sen. Robert Byrd. By the Mineral Daily News-Tribune of Keyser, W.Va.

EDITORIAL: Court ruling affirms gun rights, ensures legal battles -- Anyone who thinks the Supreme Court’s decision on gun rights this week was an exercise for constitutional scholars — and nothing more — didn’t catch what happened with the stock of gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger. Like a trigger had been squeezed, their stock went up on a day other stocks went down. From the Rockford Register Star.

EDITORIAL: Law or not, bike helmets a must for all -- With school recess and the summer season upon us, kids will be buzzing about on bicycles much more frequently in the weeks ahead. Parents and other adults responsible for those children should make sure that when the kids are riding their bikes, they are wearing bicycle helmets. From the Observer-Dispatch.

CHARITA GOSHAY: Who gets to decide what is patriotic? - The dramatic story of our fight for independence makes us nostalgic, prompting some to call for a return to the small-town values of the “real” America, the implication being that the values of certain groups of people should be suspect, that their love of country is somehow different.